William/Buffy. Sequel to All Humans. Rated R for a very small bit of naughtiness.
As always feedback is greatly appreciated.
Duels
The host called his name, and William felt a shiver running down
his back as he mindlessly stepped forward to stand next to his
opponent. He was ready, as ready as he would ever be, and still he
couldn’t help the butterflies that frantically flew in his belly.
Across the room, seated at the same table where they had had their
first long talk almost a year before, Buffy was clapping along with the
room. Any other night, she would have been busy serving tables, but she
had asked Lorne for the night off to listen to the duels. To cheer
William on. To simply catch his eyes from the other side of the
café, as she had just done, and smile encouragingly.
Almost a year since they had met, a little more than seven months since
they had started dating, one month and three days since she had moved
into his small apartment, and still William couldn’t believe his luck
at having found her.
“The first word,” Lorne announced in the microphone, “is ‘bubbles’. Gentlemen, you have sixty seconds.”
William hated to lose sight of Buffy, but he closed his eyes to
concentrate. Sixty seconds was a short time to compose a few lines with
the word bubbles somehow included. The band in the corner started a
quick melody to fill the wait, and already half the time had
disappeared. A memory filled William’s mind and obliterated everything
else.
Buffy’s glistening limbs disappearing in a sea of bubbles. Her hair
piled up on top of her head, except for a few tendrils of gold that had
escaped and had stuck to her neck. Her crystal laugh when William had
joined her in the tub and sent water over the edge. Her quiet moans
when he had insisted on helping her wash and had gently caressed her
folds, her clit, before pulling her onto his lap and…
“Time’s up. We’ll start this round with Dennis.”
William’s eyes opened again, but he didn’t hear a word of his
adversary’s poem as he hurried to finish his own. He fought himself not
to look at the scores attributed by the judges; knowing what he needed
to beat only made him more nervous.
“Spike, your turn.”
William looked at Lorne, and his friend’s smile helped, a little. Not
enough, though, and he soon searched for Buffy’s eyes again over the
crowd.
“Bubbles caress her,
Yet my touch is softer,
For I only, her lover,
Can make her quiver
With a touch of my finger.”
As soon as the last word passed his lips, William wanted to kick
himself. Stupid, stupid verse, was that the best he could do after all
his training, all the anticipation of the poetry duels night? How he
had even believed that he might…
Buffy’s smile widened, and William frowned, a little surprised, when he
realized that he had won the first round. Either the judges were deaf
or his adversary had been even more pitiful that him.
“Second word, gentlemen. Remember, best two out of three gets to the next round. And your word is… Puppy.”
Again, the music started. Again, William closed his eyes. Again, a memory of Buffy came to his mind.
Christmas time shopping. They had been very seriously talking about
moving together. They had been talking, also, about the future.
Playfully. What they would call their seven and half children. What
color they would paint their bedroom and the garage. What flying car
they would buy. Whether their picket fence would be white or purple
with green polka dots. Then, they had walked into a pet store, and
Buffy had oooohed and aaaahed at an adorable ball of fur that had
barked at her happily when she picked it up. Her parents had never
wanted to have a dog, she had explained. William had thought of giving
her the puppy for Christmas, but his apartment was so small, it would
have been rather impractical. Instead, on Christmas day, he had pulled
out a plush toy dog with a note tied around its neck informing her that
she could trade the toy in for a real dog when they finally lived in a
large enough place.
It was his turn to go first as the music ended, and he did so without
waiting for his nerves to act up and make his voice tremble. He forgot
what he had said as soon as the words faded in the air, and watched, a
little disappointed, as lower scores than before were given to him. His
adversary then recited his verse and won the round, although not by
much. Across the room, Buffy was still smiling, and William could
easily read the words she mouthed. Love you.
“Spike is leading at the points difference and will therefore start the last round. The word is… vampire.”
Even from where he was, William could see the shiver that ran through
Buffy, and the slight wavering of her smile before she caught herself.
He thought, for a second, about getting off the stage to go to her, but
she shook her head as if she had guessed his intention, and he remained
where he was, wondering if she was really alright. It had been months
since they had talked of her dream-life, of that other world where they
had both been different people yet still the same, but it was always at
the back of William’s mind, as he was sure it was at the back of hers.
“Time’s up. Spike?”
William blinked and looked at Lorne, panicked. He didn’t have the beginning of the first line…
What the hell… It’s not like I have anything to lose.
“I am not him.
I am not a vampire, and you know it.
I will not feed on your blood, on your life,
I will not pull you into the darkness
And demand that you stay there with me.
But if you let me,
I can love you, as he did.
But better than he did.
For I will not plead for your love,
I will not fight for your love,
I will only
Love
You.”
Light reflected on a tear rolling down Buffy’s cheek as William
finished, and he had to struggle to push the last word out, worried
beyond words that he had stepped over the fine line she had drawn
around Spike the vampire. But she clapped with the crowd, harder than
anyone else, perhaps because she was the only one who had a clue about
what his poem had been about. And scores didn’t matter anymore, because
despite the tears, she was smiling.
the end
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The characters and names used in these stories do not belong to me. All copyrights remain with Fox and Mutant Enemy. No profit is made from this fanfiction.